Here’s an Optimistic Coach

Washington quarterback Mark Rypien did such a good job against Dallas last Sunday, Coach Joe Gibbs said he might consider keeping him as his starter even when Doug Williams gets off the injury list.

Said Gibbs: “If I have to tell Doug at some point, ‘Hey Doug, I’m not going to put you back in there yet because Rip’s doing so good,’ I think he’ll understand. If not, we’ll talk it out, but I think Doug will understand it.’ ”

Sure.

Joe DiMaggio was the winner when 1,067 female members of the U.S. Television Fan Assn. were polled to name their favorite sports stars.

Race driver Paul Newman was second, followed by Arnold Palmer, Roscoe Tanner and Wayne Gretzky.

Rounding out the top 10 were Steve Garvey, O.J. Simpson, Tom Lasorda, Sugar Ray Leonard andMagic Johnson.

Tom Lasorda?

Add Lasorda: When a New York writer questioned his ability to throw a curveball, he said: “I could throw one. You probably played in a girls’ league growing up. Let’s me and you go down to the hitting cage right now. If we do, you better have a will. I’m going to be throwing up right under the lip.”

Trivia Time: When Bill Mallory, football coach of unbeaten Indiana, was hired at Bloomington, he succeeded what coach who also is unbeaten this year? (Answer below.)

Now-it-can-be-told Dept.: From Ken Rosenthal of the Baltimore Evening Sun: “Believe it or not, the Oakland A’s wanted an elephant to throw out the first pitch Saturday night, but the club’s brainstorm was nixed by American League President Bobby Brown.

“The A’s, of course, returned the elephant to their logo this season. Chief operating officer Wally Haas learned of the hard-throwing critter from a friend in Sacramento.

“ ‘The elephant can throw 60 feet 6 inches for strikes,’ Haas proclaimed. ‘He can also hold a ball just like the elephant in our logo.’

“Brown, however, said that the elephant was not ready for ‘the big show,’ and Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio did the honors.

Even without Wayne Gretzky, the Edmonton Oilers appear to be formidable, but Minnesota North Star Coach Pierre Page said, “Do the St. Louis Cardinals miss Jack Clark? Edmonton is still a great team, but it lost its clutch hitter.”

Minnesota Vikings defensive back Darrell Fullington said of Tampa Bay quarterback Vinny Testaverde, a former University of Miami teammate: “Vinny is a great pure athlete. He ran a 4.6 at Miami. He can be as good or better than Dan Marino.”

That still wouldn’t make him the best quarterback Fullington played with at Miami.

“Bernie Kosar was, by far,” he said. “Bernie has a great mind. He’ll find a way to beat you.”

Trivia Answer: Sam Wyche, coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Quotebook

Sports lawyer Bob Woolf, recalling a contract he once negotiated for Bob Stanley with the Boston Red Sox: “We had statistics showing he was the third-best pitcher in the league. They had a chart showing he was the sixth-best pitcher on the Red Sox.”